Nightmare in Arkham
Chapter 35: "The Beast Awakens"
-The Chase between Freddy and the Dark Knight eventually made its way to the Arkham City River. There Freddy tried to throw the Dark Knight off course by forcing water spouts to shoot up like geysers in an attempt to knock the Dark Knight into the water. When this failed Freddy flew high up in the air and conjured up a giant wave from the river and turned the water into lava.
-"Surf's up, bitch!" Freddy shouted to the Dark Knight.
-The dream demon smiled triumphantly when the wave hit the Dark Knight head on but was dumbfounded when the Dark Knight emerged from the wave completely unharmed.
-The Dark Knight flew up at Freddy but, just as he came within a few feet of the dream demon, there was a massive explosion in the water directly below them. Both Freddy and the Dark Knight looked down to see the gaping jaws of the Megalodon rocketing up toward them. The mighty shark's teeth smashed together, engulfing the Dark Knight's leg.
-"Holy Sard-" Freddy was cut off when the Dark Knight grabbed his leg in a vice grip and when the Megalodon opened its mouth to consume its morsel the Dark Knight hurled Freddy toward to the back of the monster's throat before lunging in after him. The Dark Knight struck Freddy head on and they both fell down the throat and into the belly of the beast.
-Freddy groaned as he rose to his feet. The claws on one of his hands ignited in flames to reveal a gaping pocket of flesh and stomach acid all around him. But the was no sign of the Dark Knight.
-"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" Freddy cooed evily, "You can't hide from me!"
-The Dark Knight watched Freddy from the roof of the stomach as he waited for his leg to heal.
-"Tell me something, do you honestly think you've been protecting the city? HAHAHAHAHAHA, shit, I've done a better job! All you've done is put the freaks of Gotham in time out over and over again only to have them escape and wreak havoc all over again. You're like a nanny who never got her point across. I, on the other hand, had the balls to go the extra mile you were too chicken shit to walk and, what do ya know, no more crime!"
-The Dark Knight made no response.
-"So why don't you just stop the childish bullshit and let me take care of Gotham, I'll have it cleaned up overnight." Freddy laughed.
-The Dark Knight dropped from the stomach ceiling and was close to landing on Freddy when he looked up and dodged the blow.
-"So that's the way you wanna play, huh?"
-The Dark Knight unsheathed his sword.
-"Come at me…you're mama's waiting for ya, little boy."
-The Dark Knight took a swing at Freddy but he caught the sword between both of his claws and flung it out of the Dark Knight's hands. Freddy then slashed at the spot where the Dark Knight was just standing but he had vanished.
-Growing frustrated, Freddy began to violently swipe his claws like a wild beast hoping to score a random hit. He never did. Then he had an idea.
-Freddy folded his arms over himself the way one does when their cold and then he threw them off to the sides unleashing a giant wave of fire that ignited the stomach walls and ceiling of the Megalodon. The prehistoric fish trembled and shook with agony.
-Freddy turned around and looked behind him just in time for the Dark Knight to scoop up a handful of stomach acid and throw it directly in Freddy's face. Freddy yelled as the bile sizzled against his skin and burned his eyes. Then the Dark Knight leapt on top of him and knocked him down.
-The Dark Knight grabbed Freddy by the throat and forced him to his feet but Freddy kicked the Dark Knight in the face causing him to lose his grip.
-Then the two titans duked it out like a set of heavy weight gladiators, punching and slashing each other as the living battlefield that was the Megalodon's stomach burned and glowed and shook with hellfire.
-Finally the Dark Knight delivered a powerful punch to the side of Freddy's head that knocked him down. When Freddy looked up he saw, leaping through the flames like a bat of Hell, the dark shadow of the knight lunging toward in the air, sword raised and eyes burning with hate. Freddy smiled.
-The moment the Dark Knight was upon him, Freddy shot up in the air and kicked the Knight in the stomach causing him to fly backwards.
-The tortured Megalodon breached the surface of the water, mouth agape and spewing flames. Freddy and the Dark Knight shot out of the flaming maw like a phoenix rising from the ashes as the once mighty Meg plunged back into its watery tomb.
-The two enemies tore through the air back toward the city, all the while exchanging blows violently and mercilessly. Buildings were ripped apart in their wake, fire escaped from their blows and ignited in the city streets, and lightning struck in the sky with each earth-shattering punch and slash.
MEANWHILE…
The fight between Batman's alias and Freddy's creations raged on in Freddy's control room. Although the four heroes and Dr. Leland were fighting valiantly, it was still a tough fight as they were fighting five against nine. After nearly an hour, they all began to tire and the nightmare reflections surrounded them and began to close in for the kill. None of them noticed the glass shards from the broken mirror begin to glow and materialize.
-The Headless Horseman lunged at them with his scythe raised and ready to decapitate. Robin blocked the bladed weapon with his steel rod and a struggle ensued. Just when it seemed the Horseman would overpower Robin, something went flying through the air between them and broke the scythe in half before embedding itself in the wall. It was a shuriken.
-All the reflections shot their heads in the direction the projectile had come from, thinking Batman had returned. Instead, they saw the five teens that had assisted Batman. Rick was standing in front of the pack with another shuriken in hand ready to use.
-"Banzai!" Rick exclaimed.
-Alice's heart began racing and her senses spiraled out of control. It was her brother and her friends!
-"Rick! Is it really you?!"
-"HELLO BEEEYBA!" Rick shouted in a playful tone.
-Alice's eyes filled with tears of joy. She ran past the nightmare creations, who were too dumbfounded to stop her, and tightly embraced her long lost brother. However, after the embrace. Rick's expression turned serious.
-"You guys have to get out of here," he said.
-Alice looked at Rick in disbelief.
-"No! I'm not leaving you alone again. That's how Freddy-"
-"Batman needs your help," Shelia interrupted.
-"That's right," Rick replied, "You go after him, we'll take care of these goons."
-Alice looked a Rick for a moment, then at her friends, then she nodded.
-"Stay safe," she said.
-Then she ran back to her alias and used her dream control to teleport them, and herself, out of the room leaving Rick and the others alone with the nightmare creations.
-The Mad Hatter sprung at them, swinging his pocket watch in the air before swinging it at Rick.
-Rick dodged it and the pocket watch hit the spot where he was just standing and exploded. When the smoke cleared, Rick and the others had vanished. The nightmare reflections each put their guards up, ready to strike at any moment.
-A fly came down on the Mad Hatter's face and he tried to smash it but only managed to smack himself. Then another fly came and joined it, then another, then ten more, then 100 more, until all the nightmare reflections were covered in a thick cloud of buzzing insects.
-"What the hell's going on?" The Horseman asked confused. In response he was dealt a blow that felt like he had been struck by a motorcycle. He went flying against a wall and when he made impact, the Horseman shattered to pieces and faded into oblivion.
-The Mad Hatter threw his pocket watch at the first figure that he saw thinking it was one of the intruders but it turned out to be the Painkiller. The pocket watch wrapped around his gauntlet arm and exploded, killing the Painkiller. The Mad Hatter was then dealt a shuriken to the head and then he suffered the same fate as the Horseman.
-The Emperor Penguin took a puff from his cigar and blew out a long, billowing stream of fire which dispersed some of the insects. The first thing he saw was Sheila standing directly in front of him. She appeared to have been holding her breath for quite some time and now she released it. But it didn't come out as a steady stream of air, it came out like a gust of hurricane wind and it blew the fire back onto the Emperor Penguin and lit him up causing him to burn to a pile of ashes.
-The Executioner and the Judge were blindly swinging their weapons through the haze when the Executioner unleashed a jolt of electricity from the bolts embedded in his back. The shockwave zapped the entire swarm of insects and caused them to materialize into one single human being: Debbie.
-"You alright Deb?" Rick asked.
-"Yeah," She replied.
-"But for how long?" The Judge asked raising his mallet.
-As the Judge was bringing his mallet down, Shelia blew another gust of wind at the Judge and the mallet flew from his hands and smashed into the Hydra's head, crushing (not cutting) it like a ripe tomato. The Hydra shattered and disappeared.
-The wind blast continued and sent the Judge flying straight toward the Executioner. The Judge was impaled on the electric bolts in the Executioner's back and this caused the electric system to malfunction and destroy both of them.
-The Bridesmaid ran at them blindly swinging her bat but Kristen easily finished her off with one kick to the head from her spiked shoes.
-It appeared the entire room had been cleared but then the five teens came to a sudden realization.
-"We missed one!" They all shouted in unison.
Sekhmet raced through Arkham City, following the explosive sounds of the fight between Freddy and the Dark Knight and hoping to reach her beloved master before Alice and her alias.
MEANWHILE…
-Eventually, Freddy knocked the Dark Knight through the window of a large garage building and, working fast, he ignited the building in a roaring fire.
-Freddy then landed on the ground in front of the building and stared maliciously at the scene expecting to see his opponent emerge covered in flames. A long moment passed and nothing happened. Then Freddy heard the loud reving of a car engine.
-Then, like a demon car escaping from the pits of Hell, the Batmobile came roaring out of the flames straight toward Freddy who just barely managed to vanish in thin air before being struck by the vehicle.
-The Batmobile tore blindly through Arkham City at over 80 mph searching for the dream demon. Then there was a terrible horn blaring noise somewhere not far behind the Batmobile.
-The Dark Knight looked in the rearview mirror to see a giant monster truck similar to the one from Duel racing toward him with Freddy behind the wheel. Freddy stuck his arm out the window and allowed his claws to scrape against a concrete wall as he sped toward the Dark Knight's vehicle at 100 mph.
-The Dark Knight stepped on the accelerator and the Batmobile sped up causing the buildings and the fires to blur together. However, Freddy's vehicle tore through the buildings and even the fires as it continued its pursuit.
-Eventually, Freddy was able to pull up alongside the Batmobile. He made a sharp veer to the side and smashed into it causing the Dark Knight to momentarily lose control.
-Before Freddy could smash into the Dark Knight's vehicle a second time, he made a sharp turn and sped down another street while Freddy sped forward.
-As the Dark Knight continued down its path for a few seconds, Freddy's vehicle came flying over the rooftop of one of the partially demolished buildings and landed right in front of the Dark Knight's vehicle.
-Freddy revved his engine and started racing down the street straight toward the Dark Knight in a head on collision course. The Dark Knight did veer off or slow down but sped up and fearlessly continued on the collision course.
-Just before impact, the Dark Knight ejected himself from his vehicle and went flying several feet in the air while the Batmobile slammed head on into Freddy's truck, igniting it in a massive fire ball that went tearing down the street until it hit a concrete wall in a massive explosion.
-After several minutes passed the Dark Knight saw Freddy casually walk out of the fire completely unharmed.
-"Hope you have insurance, asshole!" Freddy shouted.
-The Dark Knight clenched his fist in anger and then he looked down and noticed something peculiar. The nightmare horse was standing in the middle of the road surveying the fight.
-The Dark Knight swooped down on the horse and mounted it. The horse sprang up its hind legs neighing wildly. Then the Dark Knight began racing the horse directly toward Freddy.
-"Yeah, that's it. Come on."
-The Dark Knight unsheathed his sword and prepared to deliver a death blow.
-"Come on! Come on!"
-The Dark Knight increased speed and raised his sword high to the heavens.
-Just when the Dark Knight reached Freddy, BOOM!
-There was a gigantic explosion around Freddy that killed the nightmare horse and sent the Dark Knight flying several feet backward.
-When the Dark Knight looked up he saw that the flames were rising higher and higher until they reached heights of up to 100 feet tall. Then they started taking shape to form a colossal creature of biblical proportions, the perfect counter to Batman's transformation into the Dark Knight.
-Freddy had transformed himself into the Arkham Dragon.
-The Arkham Dragon looked down on the Dark Knight and let out a thunderous roar and a burst-stream of billowing fire.